Summary

• The Decameron miniseries fails to capture the wit and language of Giovanni Boccaccio's iconic work.
• The plot lacks intrigue and the characters are generally unlikable, making it a slow watch.
• The show's humor falls flat, lacking guffaw-inducing moments and failing to establish its own unique style.

Giovanni Boccaccio's The Decameron is one of the most iconic Italian works of the 14th century, comprised of over 100 short stories that range in genre and inspired not only adaptations, but also influenced other authors of the time, including Chaucer and William Shakespeare. Similar to past adaptations, Netflix's miniseries is far more of a loose translation of Boccaccio's work, though unlike prior incarnations, it fails to either create its own language or match the wit of its source material.

Developed by Kathleen Jordan, The Decameron centers on a group of nobles and servants who venture to a countryside villa in early 14th century Italy as the Black Plague takes hold of the country, killing off much of the population. The group looks to take shelter until the plague es, enjoying plenty of wine and sex during their time in the villa. But as they learn of each other's secrets, including a handmaiden posing as their master, and encounter the plague prior to arriving, the villa is no longer the safe haven they hoped it to be.

The Decameron's Story Lacks Any Major Intrigue

The plot meanders along without any major development, even in spite of its limited run

The Decameron doesn't actually adapt its source material, it's only inspired by Boccaccio's stories and loosely adapts its narrative of nobles and servants sheltering from the Black Death. Through this plot, Jordan hopes to evoke parallels between the COVID-19 pandemic and 14th century Italy, particularly how the class gap led to very different experiences surviving the harrowing eras. But in spite of her best efforts to tap into this theme, the showrunner fails to create a genuinely compelling plot.

The Decameron ultimately feels like it takes too long to progress these arcs.

The Decameron's cast of characters are all generally unlikable figures, already making it difficult to want to see more of them, let alone see how their stories ultimately play out. It's the slow progression of their individual arcs, though, that makes it even more of a general slog to watch. Some of the group certainly do show growth from where they started, including Tanya Reynolds' Licisca, who embraces a sense of agency in her life, while Jessica Plummer's Filomena begins to display a semblance of empathy for those in a lower class than her.

Given the show is an eight-episode miniseries, though, The Decameron ultimately feels like it takes too long to progress these arcs. With an hour-long episodic format, building towards major character moments wouldn't seem like an issue, even one that has as big of an ensemble cast as this, but the Netflix series is more invested in wanting to put these characters in comedic situations and conflicting love stories than offering them any kind of meaningful development.

The Decameron Is Also Not That Funny

Despite its witty source material and focus on comedy, The Decameron rarely incites chuckles

Arguably the biggest issue facing The Decameron is its utter lack of comedy. With one of Boccaccio's major objectives being to write for all classes, the writer turned towards being witty in his various stories, while also generally targeting the Catholic Church for the bulk of his humor. The show, however, takes a far more broad approach to its sense of humor, largely reliant on its airhead characters' outlandish behavior than anything else.

The Decameron's lack of guffaw-inducing moments proves largely disappointing.

Even the show's promise of raunchy humor is inconsistent, with its premiere episode featuring plenty of flirtations between characters and self-pleasuring, while the rest of the episodes only slowly follow suit. It's unclear if Jordan was looking to build some steamy tension between the show's characters in the same vein as fellow Netflix title Bridgerton, or if she was uninterested in creating a full-blown sex comedy as The Decameron tackled other themes, but it generally doesn't go far enough.

While there are certainly occasional chuckles to be had from some of the characters' antics, particularly the pointed banter between Saoirse-Monica Jackson's Misia and Tony Hale's Sirisco, The Decameron's lack of guffaw-inducing moments proves largely disappointing. This is especially true because of each episode's runtime, leaving us to wonder when the story will actually go somewhere in lieu of predictable pitfalls and familiar character tropes.

The Decameron Fails To Stand Out From Another Boccaccio Adaptation

Without any kind of unique language or style, the show doesn't really establish its own foothold

While a variety of takes on the material have come and gone throughout the years, one of the more unique Decameron adaptations remains Jeff Baena's The Little Hours, led by Alison Brie, Aubrey Plaza and Kate Micucci. Taking both an improvisational and contemporary approach to its dialogue, all while situated in its period setting, the movie found a unique way to not only bring two of Boccaccio's stories to life, but also make them feel appropriately timely by situating the focus on its sexually repressed female characters.

In The Decameron, though, much of the show's dialogue is that of its era. Though this could have proven effective, the show's attempts at goofier humor and class satire instead make it far too dated. This prevents it from standing out against not only other Boccaccio adaptations, but even TBS' Miracle Workers: Dark Ages, which similarly found its own unique tone and breezy humor for the era. Despite a game cast behind it, and plenty of potential in its initial structure, The Decameron ultimately proves an absolute disappointment.

The Decameron is now streaming on Netflix.